Half-Off Treasures - December 14, 2022

 Since I recently mentioned there was going to be a half-off- everything -in -the -store sale at St. Vincent de Paul, I thought I'd share what I bought.  I'd looked around the day before, seeing what I wanted to get, and then, that morning decided it wasn't worth it.  I'd only be going to buy things because they were half-off, not because I really wanted them.  When I really want something I buy it right off, not risk losing it to an earlier bird.

Later, I figured I'd go, as they might have put new old merchandise out.  It was around 2:00 before I got there, so all I'd eyed the day before was gone.  Still, I found some things.  I discovered the collectible cases were unlocked (since it was half-off day, and so busy, they didn't have time to keep unlocking them), so I was able to really get a good look at what was in them.  Lots of things hidden behind other things, or in boxes tucked in the far back. 

Then I saw this... a Victorian castor set in a stand.

It was more than I wanted to spend, but then again, it was half-off!  It's something I would not have paid full price for, no matter how much I liked it. I put back most of what I had in my cart, which still wasn't as much as this.  Oh, don't get me wrong, it wasn't expensive expensive! Just more than I had planned to spend.  

A castor is a fancy name for salt and pepper shakers and condiment jar sets.  Sometimes they are just the shakers, or they can have quite a few bottles, jars, and pots.  This has the salt and peppers, and a mustard pot.  No spoon included.   I don't know if it came with two different hand-painted flower types, or the mustard jar was a replacement, since it's not the daylilies (I think they look like daylilies more than lilies) the salt and peppers seem to be.  However, it is the same pale pink, which leads me to believe it was part of the original set.  I will go out on a limb and say these are pink milk glass.

The stand is "Quadruple" silver-plate, which is just what it sounds like, the base metal was covered in four layers of silver.  This was done in higher quality silver-plating, and made it quite unlikely to rub off.  In fact, the layers of silver are still thick enough that a magnet does not stick to the base metal.  I tried.  Silver-plate needs polishing just like sterling, only I won't polish this set.

The top has flowers and a bee, only on one side.

The only other 1/2 off items worth mentioning are this book and some games.

A first edition (of this illustrator's edition, 1902) Through the Looking-Glass.  Please, don't refer to it as Alice in Wonderland, which is a completely different book.  Disney scrambled them together to make one movie by that name.   Damaged binding, but the pages are intact and undamaged.

I've not seen a bandersnatch, frumious or otherwise, as a lion with human hands before!  

What wonderful handwriting people used to have!  My mother (born in 1919) won school awards for hers.  By my day, we still learned cursive, and most girls used upright rounded letters with little circles for dots.  Now, cursive is not required in many schools.  The quote is T. L Snow's.

1930's and 40's board games.  Under $2 each.  India is what is now sold as Parcheesi, and the game dates back into the 1500's in India.

It turns out I'm glad I went.  It happens only once a year, and I somehow missed last year, and there wasn't one in 2020.